A three-year-old boy might have held a toddler's face in a puddle until he died after they fell out while playing on an isolated railway line, an inquest heard yesterday. But Mr Stanley Hooper, the coroner at the inquest into the death of Louis Wedge, said a criminal prosecution could not be brought because of the age of the youngsters involved and the inconclusive nature of the evidence.
Louis, also aged three, went missing from his home in Maltby, South Yorkshire, at the beginning of April.
He was discovered face down in the puddle after going for a walk with the three-year-old boy and a 13-year-old girl who suffers from learning difficulties.
Mr Hooper, the Doncaster coroner, said yesterday it was likely Louis had been killed unlawfully but there was not enough proof to say exactly what had happened.
Recording an open verdict, he said the boy might have been to blame for the death but he was too young for criminal proceedings to be brought against him.
The Home Office pathologist, Dr John Clarke, said he had examined Louis' body and concluded that he'd either fallen into the puddle through exhaustion and drowned - or had been pushed there and had his head held under the water.
The court ordered that the girl and the boy should not be identified, but referred to instead as Child A and Child B.